Sunday, March 18, 2007

Sunday Morning Baking

Sunday used to be my baking day, and I don't know why, but I seem to be trying to bake again on Sundays (a little crazy with a two-year-old helper and a babe in the Moby). So this morning it was Apple Oat Bran Muffins from my Once Upon a Tart book.
I love this book so much--it's primarily a tart book, but there are tons more recipes, like scones, soups, muffins, cookies, and salads. Everything I've tried has been primo. It's written by two men who run a bakery/tart shop/restaurant in NYC. I love cookbooks that have "heart" and this one really does--the writing is very personal and descriptive, with lots of stories of the bakeshop, talk of personal likes and dislikes, and little anecdotes about their customers. And beautiful beatiful photography. So this morning Dieter and I were up early (and Rainer too of course), and I had half a carton of buttermilk to use up, so we made these healthy muffins. They have very little sugar and are full of oat bran and oats, apples, and sultanas. I think they're great.
Faith and Jacob did too. Dieter, on the other hand, thought they were cookies and was way dissapointed at their barely-sweet reality. Oh well. By the way, do you love the heart tin? I like making heart-shaped muffins. Here's the recipe:


Apple Oat Bran Muffins
2 1/4 c. flour
1 c. oat bran
1 c. rolled oats
2 t. baking powder
2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1/4 c. packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 c. cold buttermilk
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 t. vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. golden raisins
1 Granny Smith apple, cut into 1/2" cubes
  1. Combine the dry ingredients, flour through brown sugar, in a medium bowl.
  2. In a separate, big bowl, whisk the eggs, to break up the yolks. Then whisk in the remaining wet ingredients, raisins, and apple.
  3. Combine wet and dry ingredients.
  4. Bake at 400 for 30-35 minutes (I made 18 muffins and baked them only about 25 minutes, I think--the original recipe says it makes 8 big muffins and states that these muffins will darken in color and the tops will have a hard crust).

2 comments:

Unknown said...

How precious! What a great activity to do with the kids. He probably won't remember, but the pictures will be a treasure. I have some pictures of me making snickerdoodles (in one of those toddler-too-big-for-diapers-but-not-quite-bedtime-potty-trained contraptions) with my mom when I was about two. I LOVE it. Proof we did cook together even though I don't remember it!

The muffins sound good but how in the WORLD did they only get EIGHT muffins!? Those must have been bakery style!

Mary Beth said...

Yeah, I can't imagine getting only 8 muffins from the batch either. Definitely not portion controlled!

I'm so thinking the blog will be a great souvenir of our family life--for the kids, or just for me. Especially since I'm the worst at keeping the baby books current.